Spin & Go: Facts and Strategy

Spin & Go is a new 3-player SNG in hyper-turbo format, where the prize pool is randomly drawn and the buy-in can be multiplied by between 2 and 1000 times. Each player starts with 25 bb in their stacks at a 10/20 level, and blinds go up every 3 minutes. The winner of a tournament wins the entire prize pool.

Find out all the details of this mode and 5 tips for your strategy in this article. At the bottom of the article you will find a complete overview of the structure and payout for all available Spin & Go buy-in levels.

Suited for Cash Game Players

If a move is correct in a 3-handed cash game, then it is also profitable in a Spin & Go SNG. Since Spin & Go is carried out in the "winner takes all" mode, there is no difference between ChipEV and $EV like there usually is with SNGs. This means cash game players can easily move to these games without need to adjust decisions to ICM model.

If you would like to master your skill and check if your play was correct, we recommend you to try PokerRanger. If you are an SNG-player, you can also use such tools as HoldemResources Calculator, ICMIZER, Simple Nash. Please, make sure that you use those 3 tools in chipEV-mode.

Popular with Casual Players

The lottery-effect in combination of good visibility of the game variant in the lobby, and easy handling of the variant are the reasons for the huge popularity of the format with hobby players. This softer player pool and the acceptable rake add to attraction of the Spin & Go's for SNG regulars.

5 hints for Spin & Go SNGs

Hint 1: Do not call with speculative hands

You shouldn't call open raises with speculative hands if you would have to invest more than 10% of your stack. You call preflop in order to make a profitable postflop move on fitting board textures. Here, however, your preflop investment is too big and your potential implied odds are too low. You can't play fit-or-fold anymore. This also includes speculative hands like AT, KQ and Axs.

Hint 2: Only play 3-bet or fold in the small blind

Try to stick to "3-bet or fold" strategy in the small blind. If you call, you are always out of position and it also gives the BB the opportunity to squeeze, which even further lowers the EV of your call-hands. In the games with shallow stacks and wide steal-ranges, a 3-bet is usually more profitable than a call.

Hint 3: Push or fold on the BU and in the SB

When your stack becomes less than 10 bb, only play a push-or-fold strategy on the BU and in the SB. There is not enough room for postflop moves and you can't fold to a 3-bet as well. Since you also want to attack the blinds with a lot of weak hands, you go all-in directly.

Below you can find the charts which you can use as default ones to make a "push/fold" decision in case you don't have any particular reads on your opponent:

Button:

Small Blind:

Hint 4: Minraises

Minraise on the button and increase your raise to 2.5 bb in the small blind with effective stacks above 9 bb. Stealing blinds is especially important in this game mode. If you don't have any information about your opponent, use the following ranges to steal blinds:

Button:

Small Blind:

Hint 5: Bankroll-management

As the prize pool is randomly drawn, which adds the additional element of luck, we recommend you to enjoy Spin & Go SNGs having a bankroll management of at least 50 buy-ins.

@1&2: If you intend to play Spin & Go with serious ambitions and want to make sure that your risk of ruin is minimized, you should of course apply your own criteria to find your perfect BRM.
If you want to play Spin & Go's and enjoy the game for the entertainment, have a decent chance for success & finding a few higher payouts - then 50 BI as a BRM will be a suitable BI for a lot of players.